Many of the details remain under lock and key — IMDb doesn’t even have character names — but the film is understood to follow a reporter (Ben Platt) who attempts to expose a scandal involving a politician who doesn't play by the rules. The politician's aides, played by Nina Dobrev and Mena Massoud, try their best to handle him and keep the story suppressed. Additional cast members include Scott Speedman and Jennifer Ehle.

The politician, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed, will be the fiery Ford, and the story is told against the backdrop of the last year of his mayoral term.

The other characters in the movie are fictitious.

Ford was mayor from 2010 to 2014 but had already established a history of public intoxication and substance abuse. During his years as mayor, video surfaced of him smoking crack cocaine; he was accused of sexual assault and argued publicly with staff while intoxicated. He died in 2016 at the age of 46.